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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Robert Dex

Olivia Rodrigo says mother knows best when it comes to her latest album Guts

Pop star Olivia Rodrigo says her mother hears all her songs first and had “approval” on them all for her new album.

The former High School Musical star said it had been “cathartic” releasing her second album Guts earlier this year.

She told The Face: "It’s so strange. I’m so happy and calm after putting out Guts.

“I thought I’d be anxious, checking what people are saying, how it’s doing. But to put something out is just so cathartic and I feel really happy. Making the record is the thing that’s in my control. Everything else isn’t, so..."

It is only three years since Rodrigo released her debut single, Drivers Licence, and her first album, Sour, which saw her win three Grammy Awards.

(Jim Goldberg for The Face)

Guts, which included the US chart-topper Vampire, reached the UK Top 10 and earlier this year Rodrigo became the youngest act to receive the Brit Billion Award for more than one billion digital streams in the UK.

The 20-year-old explained how the album had been a family affair with her mother playing a vital part as a sounding board for new songs.

She said: "I played all the songs for my mom. She’s very important and I have to get her approval on everything.”

(Jim Goldberg for The Face)

The singer said it was her mother's reaction to one song in particular that ensured it made it to the album, after she “bawled her eyes out” when she heard The Grudge.

She told the magazine: “Watching her reaction to it made me see the song in a new way. She’s the reason it’s on the album.”

:: Read the full interview in The Face out on November 21.

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